First-half explosion enough for La Quinta in easy homecoming win
The game of football can be funny sometimes, and La Quinta's comfortable 35-0 victory over visiting Southwest El Centro on Friday night showed that.
Despite the easy win, La Quinta couldn't score when it wanted to in the second half, and then was forced to score when it didn't want to. Confused? It requires further explanation.
The Blackhawks led 27-0 at halftime, but were shut out the entire second half as time and again they would drive the ball on a long time-consuming possession and then shoot themselves in the foot when they reached the red zone.
Finally, after a few more failed attempts to try to score, La Quinta had the ball at the Southwest El Centro 5-yard-line, but with less than a minute left, they decided to do the gentlemanly thing and kneel out the clock, content with a 27-0 win. But after the second kneeldown, the Southwest El Centro coach called timeout. He didn't want it to end that way. So La Quinta ran one final play and Steven Perez scored on a 5-yard run for the Blackhawks only TD of the second half.
"We were trying to do the right thing, but I get it, I've been on the other end of that situation and sometimes it does kind of feel like a slap in the face, too. It is what it is," La Quinta coach Juan Ruiz said. "We're happy to get the win, of course, but we made a lot of self-inflicted mistakes in the second half. Going to have to clean that up."
In the first, though, there was a lot to like for coach Ruiz and the jam-packed stands enjoying the Homecoming festivities. La Quinta dominated the first 24 minutes and gained the separation that secured its move to a 3-1 record.
The Blackhawks scored a touchdown on all four possessions before the break. Sebastian Osorio's hard running and the balanced play of quarterback Sean Jones enabled the Blackhawks to move the ball with ease.
The first drive ended with an Osorio 2-yard touchdown, the second drive ended with an Osorio 8-yard touchdown run.
The third drive probably shouldn't have been a drive at all, but it finished with an amazing touchdown connection between Jones and receiver Juan Bautista.
The moment
This "moment" has two parts. Southwest El Centro was lined up for a field goal, but there was trouble with the snap and the holder picked it up and tried to ad-lib, but his arm was hit as he threw it and the ball went to La Quinta's Gabriel Lua who took off 80 yards for a touchdown. However, despite Lua being far ahead of the pack on his way to a sure score, a block in the back penalty flag was thrown. After completing the non-touchdown, the Blackhawks were flagged again for excessive celebrating. The end result was no touchdown and the ball placed all the way back at the 50-yard line. Those are the kind of self-inflicted wounds coach Ruiz was talking about.
Undaunted, the Blackhawks moved into the red zone, but found themselves with a 4th and long. Jones scrambled to his left, was grabbed by one Eagles defender, pulled away and then was sandwiched by another defender. He still got a pass off to Juan Bautista for a remarkable 21-yard touchdown.
The final touchdown of the half was a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Jones after Lorenzo Herrera had a bruising 13-yard run that came about a foot short of what would've been a remarkable score as he ran over a defender and dragged a few more toward the end zone.
The stars
Sebastian Osorio, La Quinta running back: Osorio filled in for the still-injured starting tailback Aiden Nsubuga. Osorio had 155 yards on 19 carries including the two touchdowns. He had seven runs that went for double-digit yards.
Sean Jones, La Quinta quarterback: Jones had the stellar touchdown pass and the TD run, and managed the game well. He only threw 14 passes, but he was accurate with only four incompletions and a few of those were drops.
Gabriel Duran, La Quinta defensive end: Duran had two big tackles for loss in the first half, including one that made that ill-fated field goal attempt much longer when he sacked the Southwest El Centro QB for a 13-yard loss.
Gabriel Lua, La Quinta linebacker: Lua had the interception return for a touchdown called back, but that wasn't his only big play. He had two other tackles for loss in the first half.
Aiden Simo, La Quinta cornerback: Simo had an interception in the second half on defense, and also had a 15-yard TD run later in the half called back by a penalty.
The chatter
Osorio on his running style: "I consider myself a heavy runner, a downhill runner. I like contact. I'm just ready to step in and let them know I have potential and I can help when they need me. Just like Aiden is a great player, I like to try to be a great backup."
Coach Ruiz on correcting the mistakes: "That second half was unacceptable in a lot of ways, but we're going to get better and learn from this and that's what it's all about. We're learning and getting us ready for the Desert Empire League. I like where we are, but against better teams and in closer games you can't have drives stall because of self-inflicted mistakes."
What's next
La Quinta (3-1) wraps up non-league play with a road game at Vista Del Lago in Moreno Valley on Friday.
Shad Powers covers high school sports for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: La Quinta uses 27-0 first half to roll to easy homecoming win
